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Steak and Olives

A casserole of rump steak simmered with carrots and olives in a buttery gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,861 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Steak and Olives

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Brown and bake

  1. Brown the rump steak in a frying pan with butter.

  2. Transfer the steak to a casserole and add a little water.

  3. Bake slowly at 300°F (150°C) for three hours.

Add vegetables and serve

  1. Add enough water to create gravy and stir in the carrots.

  2. About 30 minutes before serving, add the halved olives.

  3. Serve in the casserole.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Carrot + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + carrottop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, long cooking.
Butter
Fat that helps brown the steak surface and adds rich flavour.
Carrots
Add sweetness and a soft texture as they cook in the gravy.
Stuffed olives
Add a salty, briny flavour that contrasts with the rich meat.

The step that matters

Brown the steak before baking. Searing the surface in hot fat triggers Maillard browning, which builds deep savoury flavour. Skipping or rushing this step leaves the finished dish pale and less flavourful.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, olive):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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